Chinese tourist park opts for transparency as nation’s toilet revo-loo-tion goes on
A popular Chinese tourist park has added an “exciting” new attraction for visitors – a toilet block made almost entirely of glass, including the walls, floor and roof – so that people can look outside while they are inside answering a call of nature, mainland media reports.
To save any blushes – and preserve the dignity of people using the tree-shrouded toilets at Shiyanhu Ecologic Park, in Changsha, Hunan province, staff have promised that a one-way-mirror coating will be fixed to the outside of the block’s outside, clear-glass surfaces to stop anyone outside from looking in, Chinanews.com reported.
However, on Thursday, when the park unveiled the toilet block to curious visitors – before the official public opening on Saturday at the start of the National Day holiday – the mirrored coating had yet to be applied to the outside glass surfaces.
Only a frosted glass wall separates the toilet area used by men from the area used by women.
“We wanted to make it something unique … exciting and adventurous,” Yang Lang, an employee at the park was quoted as saying.
People were able to inspect the toilet block, surrounded by trees, which is raised off the ground on cement beams and stands beside a hillside temple in the park – an area of natural beauty, which includes a large lake, and is one of Changsha’s most popular scenic spots.
China announced a toilet revo-loo-tion in 2015, with reform plans too modernise and improve public conveniences at tourist sites around the country, following numerous complaints from visitors about dirty toilets and poor hygiene standard.
Officials vowed that public toilets at all mainland tourist sites classified as 3A or above – the third highest ranking in a five-tier system rated according to the attraction’s importance – would be refurbished to boost hygiene standards.
